Christie fires aide, apologizes for traffic jams TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Republican Gov. Chris Christie fired one of his top aides on Thursday and apologized repeatedly for his staff's "stupid" behavior, insisting during a nearly two-hour news conference that he had no idea anyone around him had engineered traffic jams as part of a political vendetta against a Democratic mayor. "I am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team," Christie said as he addressed the w...

Trapped trucker survives hours in subzero temps INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tim Rutledge's eyelid had frozen shut. His voice was hoarse after competing for hours with bitter-cold wind and humming truck engines while screaming for help. He was losing consciousness, pinned under his rig in sub-zero temperatures at an Indiana truck stop. The longtime Florida truck driver had crawled under his truck with a hammer to loosen ice from his brakes around 4 a.m. Monday, as record-breaking temperatures swept ...

Texas firefighter uses beer to put out tire blaze HOUSTON (AP) — An off-duty Houston firefighter made the best of his resources when trying to put out a truck tire fire: He used beer the rig was hauling. Fire Capt. Craig Moreau and his wife were driving home Monday night after a trip to Austin when they came upon an 18-wheeler on fire. Moreau and the trucker, whose brake problems started the fire, tried using a small extinguisher. Moreau says he thought the fire was out, but then noticed the ...

Louisville hires Petrino again as football coachLooking back, Bobby Petrino said the first of his many mistakes in recent years was leaving Louisville, which provided the first of several head coaching opportunities on the college and professional levels. Upon returning Thursday to the Cardinals after seven years, Petrino promised his second stint would be permanent because this was always his destination — even with collegiate stops at Arkansas and Western Kentucky and a 13-game foray with...

Polar air blamed for 21 deaths nationwide ATLANTA (AP) — Fountains froze over, a 200-foot Ferris wheel in Atlanta shut down, and Southerners had to dig out winter coats, hats and gloves they almost never have to use. The brutal polar air that has made the Midwest shiver over the past few days spread to the East and the Deep South on Tuesday, shattering records that in some cases had stood for more than a century. The mercury plunged into the single digits and teens from Boston and New...

Coldest Air in Decades Threatens to Freeze Pipes in South, EastAccuWeather.com reports temperatures Monday night and Tuesday over much of the interior South and the mid-Atlantic will venture into territory that have not been felt in two decades. The arctic blast will bring the risk of frostbite and hypothermia to those not property dressed. It will also bring the potential for dead car batteries, frozen pipes and power outages. In some areas, moisture left behind from recent rainfall may not only cause ca...

Historic freeze could break Midwest temp records SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The deep freeze expected soon in the Midwest, New England and even the South will be one to remember, with potential record-low temperatures heightening fears of frostbite and hypothermia. It hasn't been this cold for decades — 20 years in Washington, D.C., 18 years in Milwaukee, 15 in Missouri — even in the Midwest, where bundling up is second nature. Weather Bell meteorologist Ryan Maue said, "If you're under 40 (yea...

Big winter storm dumps 21 inches of snow in Mass. BOSTON (AP) — A strong winter storm slammed the Northeast with stiff winds and punishing cold on Thursday, dumping nearly 2 feet of snow in parts of the region and threatening more. The National Weather Service said 21 inches of snow had fallen in Boxford, just north of Boston, by Thursday night, while other parts of the state had 17 or 18 inches. It said parts of upstate New York had 18 inches while New York City was expected to get about 8. ...

Thief carries 250-pound safe out of Mass. eatery WEYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Massachusetts police are searching for a strong-armed thief who carried a 250-pound safe out of a restaurant. Kevin Hynes says a man walked out of his Stockholders Restaurant in Weymouth on Sunday night lugging the vault. Surveillance tape shows the man entering a side door at the rear of the restaurant, heading down the stairs and coming back up carrying a large object wrapped in a trash bag. No arrests have been made. ...

Ball drops in NYC's Times Square, ushering in 2014A sea of horn-tooting, hat-wearing revelers cheered and some even smooched as the famed crystal ball dropped in freezing New York City's Times Square to ring in 2014, capping a world-wide wave of celebrations that included a dazzling 30-minute fireworks show in Dubai and a deluge of confetti in London that tasted as good as it looked. Bronx-born U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor led the 60-second countdown and pushed the button that u...

After Christmas begins before the holidayIt's beginning to look a lot like ... the day after Christmas? On the day before Christmas, retailers turned shoppers' attention to the day after the holiday. Amazon.com already is offering "after Christmas" deals of up to 70 percent off clothes and 60 percent off some electronics. Old Navy is running TV ads that its "after-holiday sale starts early" with discounts of up to 75 percent off. And CVS was selling a wine cabinet for $10 off at $39....

NASA astronauts tackle urgent spacewalking repairsAstronauts removed an old space station pump Saturday, sailing through the first of a series of urgent repair spacewalks to revive a crippled cooling line. The two Americans on the crew, Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins, successfully pulled out the ammonia pump with a bad valve __ well ahead of schedule. That task had been planned for the next spacewalk on Monday. "An early Christmas," observed Mission Control as Mastracchio tugged the ref...

Mega Millions jackpot soars to $636 millionThe Mega Millions jackpot has soared to an estimated $636 million for Tuesday night's drawing, making it the second largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. The top prize had been estimated at $586 million, but lottery officials increased their prediction Tuesday morning because of strong ticket sales. The jackpot now trails only a $656 million Mega Millions pot that was sold in March 2012. Mega Millions changed its rules in October to help in...

Colo. shooting hits state still trying to recoverCENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado high school student with an apparent grudge against a teacher wounded a classmate with a shotgun before killing himself, chilling a state that's still trying to make sense of mass shootings at Columbine High School and an Aurora movie theater. Quick-thinking students at Arapahoe High School on Friday alerted the targeted teacher, who quickly left the building. Police immediately locked down the scene on the ...

Record crowds over weekend, but spending declinedNEW YORK (AP) — Retailers got Americans into stores during the start to the holiday shopping season. Now, they'll need to figure out how to get them to actually shop. Target, Macy's and other retailers offered holiday discounts in early November and opened stores on Thanksgiving Day. It was an effort to attract shoppers before Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that traditionally kicks off the holiday shopping season. Those tactics drew ...

Pizza Hut manager fired over Thanksgiving dispute ELKHART, Ind. (AP) — Pizza Hut has offered to rehire the manager of a northern Indiana restaurant who was fired over his refusal to open up on Thanksgiving Day. Tony Rohr said he has worked at the Elkhart restaurant since starting as a cook more than 10 years but was told to write a letter of resignation after his refusal. He said he declined in a meeting with his boss and instead wrote a letter explaining that he believed the company should c...

Ex-Marine accused of California homeless slayings dies SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A former Marine charged with murder in the deaths of four homeless men, a woman and her son died Thursday at a California hospital, a day after falling ill in his jail cell, authorities said. Itzcoatl Ocampo, 25, was found in his single-man cell Wednesday and taken to a hospital, said Orange County sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock. He was pronounced dead at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. No cause of death was immediately given, a...

Shoppers head out for Black Thursday Black Thursday officially took over. The holiday shopping season kicked off much earlier this year, as at least a dozen national retail chains from Macy's to Gap to Target opened their stores on Thanksgiving Day. The holiday openings came despite planned protests from workers' rights groups that are opposed to employees working on the holiday instead of spending the day with family. The holiday openings are a break with tradition. The day afte...

Mississippi bridge work to cut barge hits, ease strain VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — The structure of the Interstate 20 bridge over the Mississippi River keeps shifting. Barges keeping hitting it. Travelers keep getting delayed. It needs fixed and Mississippi officials say two federal grants will allow them to do just that. The first $9.8 million project will install underwater radar on the Vicksburg bridge and Mississippi's three other highway bridges across the Mississippi. The radar will inform tugbo...

’Catching Fire’ ablaze with $135M at box office LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is a scorching hit at the box office. Lionsgate has released early numbers on what’s expected to be one of the biggest November openings ever. “Catching Fire” has grossed $70.5 million domestically and $64 million internationally, bringing its total to $135 million, the studio reported Saturday. Numbers were from Friday’s opening day, but includes some scattered preview shows on Thursday nig...